This assignment took him to the military hospital in Karlsruhe, Strasbourg during the bombardment, the Siege of Belfort and Les Verrières for the entry of the Armée de l'Est.

He also travelled to Vienna, to make copies of the Old Masters, and created anatomical illustrations at the city hospital for publications by Doctor Salomon Stricker.

It wasn't until 1901 that he took up painting on a large scale again, after receiving an order for two dozen historical scenes from Doctor Heinrich Bircher (1850-1923) of Aargau, who was also a noted military historian.

Sixteen were for the opening of the "Kriegs- und Friedensmuseum" (War and Peace Museum) in Lucerne and the other eight were shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, just before his death.

His estate included 200 sheets of poetry, written since he was seventeen and his art was looked after by his sister Lina until her death in 1948, when it was bequeathed to the city of Muttenz.